Chasing Mavericks’ crushingly dull

/b>PG — Kids 12 and older who love water sports in general and surfing in particular may stay awake through this slow-moving true-life saga. Based on the life of the late Santa Cruz, Calif., surfing phenom Jay Moriarty, the film dramatizes his relationship from boyhood with his surfing mentor and father figure Frosty Hesson.

We meet Jay as an 8-year-old (Cooper Timberline) in 1987, already obsessed with waves hitting the rocks off Santa Cruz. He gets washed away and Frosty (Gerard Butler) rescues him. That’s how they meet.

Jump ahead seven years and Jay (Jonny Weston) is now a 15-year-old and already a great surfer. He’s a good kid, too, parenting his irresponsible single mom (Elisabeth Shue), and working at a pizza joint after school.

He has a crush on Kim (Leven Rambin), but she’s a bit older. She ignores him in school and treats him as a mere friend outside school. Jay, whose own father abandoned the family, worships Frosty. Married with kids and issues of his own, Frosty isn’t eager to be Jay’s mentor.

One day Jay hitches onto Frosty’s van as the seasoned surfer heads out to a “secret” beach to catch a giant, near-mythic wave known as the Mavericks. Jay begs Frosty to train him to ride and survive the Mavericks and Frosty agrees, saying he wouldn’t want the kid’s death on his conscience. We follow his training — for ages.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Jay gets bloodied once or twice on the rocks and disappears under water for nerve-wracking stretches. He and Frosty encounter a shark, but it leaves them alone. Jay’s mother is pushed around by a man — perhaps their landlord — and Jay throws him out. A supporting character dies on-camera of a stroke. We see an implied drug purchase by a teen. A bully harasses Jay and refers to him as “trash.”

“Fun Size” PG-13 — Lots of high-schoolers will be amused by this raucous Halloween farce. It may be too crude for middle-schoolers. Parents may be disturbed that the story hinges on a young boy of perhaps 6 who wanders off on Halloween.

Wren (Victoria Justice of “Victorious” on Nickelodeon) is a nice teen in a Cleveland suburb. She’s a brain — her idea of a great Halloween costume is to go as Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Her dad died about a year ago, and her sugar-addicted little brother Albert (Jackson Nicoll) hasn’t spoken since. Her mother (Chelsea Handler) has taken to dating losers many years her junior. Wren’s equally brainy pal Roosevelt (Thomas Mann) adores her, but is afraid to admit it.

Out trick-or-treating with her best friend, April (Jane Levy), Wren must also watch out for little Albert, who goes as a mini Spider-Man with a bloody stump for an arm. April just wants to get to the party given by their school’s coolest hunk Aaron (Thomas McDonell).

But while they visit a haunted house, Albert goes missing. The rest of the film cuts among Wren and Roosevelt trying to find Albert, Wren’s mom having an awful time at her date’s parents’ house, and Albert’s adventures with Fuzzy (Thomas Middleditch), a ditzy convenience store clerk, and Fuzzy’s ex-girlfriend’s drunk, nasty new boyfriend (Johnny Knoxville).

“Cloud Atlas” R — Somewhere inside this huge, lumbering epic lurk two or three good little movies. But film buffs 16 and older will need a shovel to dig them out of the cinematic mulch in which they’re buried in this adaptation of David Mitchell’s novel.

It’s likely that the heavy-hitting cast, who all play multiple characters under much face-altering makeup, had more fun making this movie than audiences will have watching it. Even so, some teens 16 and older will find profundity in the nearly three-hour marathon that is “Cloud Atlas,” with its storylines that arc across the ages, linking characters through karma and genetics, and their quests to escape oppression, find love, and make the world better.

The film has three directors — Lana Wachowski and Andy Wachowski of the 1999 and 2003 R-rated “Matrix” trilogy, worked on certain story threads; Tom Tykwer, of the German thriller “Run Lola Run” (R, 1998), worked on the others.

Tom Hanks plays six characters and Halle Berry seven. Hugh Grant and Hugo Weaving play several villains. The storylines are: (1) 1849 in the South Pacific: an American lawyer helps an escaped slave (David Gyasi). (2) 1936 Scotland: a young musician (Ben Whishaw) leaves his lover (James D’Arcy) to work for a cranky, aging composer (Jim Broadbent) and creates his own piece, “The Cloud Atlas Sextet.” (3) 1973 San Francisco: a courageous journalist (Berry) learns dirty secrets about a nuclear power plant from a scientist (Hanks). (4) 2012 in England: a publisher (Broadbent) owes money to thugs and his brother locks him in a psychiatric hospital. (5) 2144, Neo Seoul: a genetically engineered waitress (Doona Bae) joins a revolutionary (Jim Sturgess) to fight this new slavery. (6) Post-apocalyptic Hawaii in 2321 and 2346: Hanks as a neo-Bronze Age goat herder and Berry as a visitor from an advanced human civilization.

THE BOTTOM LINE: On-screen violence includes stabbings, throat-slittings, gun violence, gun suicide, the whipping of a slave, and a character tossed to his death off a high- rise. A doctor poisons a patient in one storyline. A couple of sexual situations become semi-explicit, some with nudity. One romantic subplot implies a sexual relationship between two men in an era when public knowledge of it would make them pariahs. The script contains occasional strong profanity, and various characters drink, smoke and use marijuana.

“Paranormal Activity 4” R — Older high-schoolers may get a chill out of all the pent-up tension in this sequel, but some may feel shortchanged, horror-wise. It’s the language more than the rare, relatively understated violence that earns this fourth installment in the seemingly endless horror series an R, but the film still creates enough implied menace — and endangerment of children — to make it problematic for under-16s.

Set in the home of a nice family in an upscale Nevada development, it continues the story of the low-budget sleeper series “Paranormal Activity” (R), launched in 2007, in which Katie (Katie Featherston) became possessed, killed her boyfriend and stole her sister’s child. Now her demonic activities affect a new family living in Nevada.

The strange little boy Robbie (Brady Allen) from across the street comes to stay with the new family for a while after his mom goes to the hospital. Right away, neighbor teenager Alex (Kathryn Newton), our protagonist, notices odd things — noises in the night, falling chandeliers. Her little brother Wyatt (Aiden Lovekamp), who’s Robbie’s age, starts acting odd.

Alex and her pal Ben (Matt Shively) set up the laptops around the house to record the goings-on, but wait too long to check the videos. Duh! Nothing really violent occurs till near the end.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The mayhem includes a snapped neck, and a couple of victims thrown by an invisible force so violently it kills them. One character is nearly asphyxiated in a garage when a car comes on by itself. Demonic spirits are depicted near the end. Teen characters use a lot of the F-word. Adults drink wine. Alex fears her parents may divorce.

“Your Sister’s Sister” R — Too adult in its themes and content for under-17s without parental permission, “Your Sister’s Sister” is an ideal indie film for college-age moviegoers. They can savor its smart dialogue and likably flawed characters and feel rightly sophisticated for doing so.

The fine cast improvised much of the dialogue, working from writer/director Lynn Shelton’s outline. They give this romantic/familial comedy-drama great depth of feeling.

We meet Jack (Mark Duplass) and Iris (Emily Blunt) at a get-together to remember Jack’s late brother, who has been dead for a year. Jack gives an angry speech, revealing his still roiling grief. Iris, who was romantically involved with Jack’s brother, urges Jack to go to her father’s cabin to clear his “head space.”

But when he arrives, Jack discovers Iris’ half sister Hannah (Rosemarie DeWitt) staying there, mourning over a break-up. They get drunk and have an awkward sexual encounter, though Hannah is a lesbian.

The next day, Iris, who secretly loves Jack (as he secretly loves her) shows up to visit. The question is whether to tell her what happened and how she might react. The results are predictable, but the journey is so worthwhile. THE BOTTOM LINE: The film includes one awkward and explicit sex scene, though there’s no nudity and everything takes place under the covers. Characters drink a lot of alcohol, and use a lot of profanity and sexually explicit slang. A central theme involves possible single parenthood and nontraditional family structures.

CDL A DELIVERY DRIVERS Home Every Night! Needed for our Worcester Depot! Drive local - No more spending valuable nights away from your family! As a Direct Store Delivery Representative YOU have the opportunity to make a difference with our customers! Provide excellent customer service; interact in a positive manner with our customers; deliver our products to local stores. Be home every night! Work for a Company that has been around for over 80 years! Minimum of 3 months driving experience with CDL A/B; GED or HS diploma required; Must be able to drive a standard transmission. EEO/Veteran/Disability Growing Strong Since1933!